Peter Schorsch
Marco Rubio’s return to running for his U.S. Senate seat is bad news for both Democrats trying to replace him.
A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday shows Rubio leading both Patrick Murphy and Alan Grayson by double digits. Rubio tops Murphy 50 percent to 37 percent, and Grayson, 50 percent to 38 percent.
“Democrats made fun of Sen. Marco Rubio when he opted for a last-minute re-election bid in Florida, but he may be on the way to a last laugh, having quickly opened double-digit leads over both Democratic candidates,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Although his numbers were poor a few months ago after getting blown out of the Florida Republican primary to Donald Trump, Rubio is surprisingly strong with independents, getting a 51-32 percent favorable rating. He leads Murphy 54-33 percent among men and 47-40 percent among women, with similar results in a Rubio-Grayson matchup.
Rubio has a divided 46-43 percent job approval rating. Voters approve of the way Bill Nelson is doing his job with a 42-29 percent rating, while Gov. Rick Scott is barely underwater at a 43-44 percent approval rating.
President Obama’s ranking in Florida has changed dramatically in a month — he’s now at 44/53 percent, down from a 54-42 percent approval rating in June.
The poll of 1,015 Florida voters was taken from June 30-July 11, and has a margin of error of +/-3.1 percent.
